Temple MIS

Connect and innovate with an elite information systems program

Fox School of Business

Student portfolio

Munir Mandviwalla receives grant from SIM to develop social media strategic framework

Munir MandviwallaThe Society for Information Management (SIM) Advanced Practices Council (APC) has awarded Dr. Munir Mandviwalla, a $25,000 grant (to follow a previous $5,000 grant) to develop “The social layer opportunity: A strategic framework to identify and manage the social media portfolio.”

SIM is an international professional association with about 3500 members and SIM APC Member firms include PepsiCo, MRIS, Air Products and Chemicals, UMass Memorial Healthcare, Pfizer, Dean Foods, Allstate, NASA, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ford Foundation, Aviall, Armstrong World Industries, Leviton, Boehringer-Ingelheim, International Monetary Fund, AstraZeneca, Penske, Roche Diagnostics, Freddie Mac, Talisman Energy, Aon, and others.

Professor Pavlou proposes new directions for research on information privacy

Paul PavlouProfessor Paul Pavlou assesses the state of research on information privacy and applies an integrative perspective to propose new research directions in a forthcoming article. The new directions include improving the tools to implement privacy, creating measures of privacy that incorporate multiple levels of thinking and analysis, and identifying strategies and concepts that influence willingness to share information.

The article proposes a multi-disciplinary approach to future research that goes beyond definitions and individual beliefs and addresses important outcomes such as business value, information assurance and risk, standards, and how privacy influences and changes marketing and transactional relationships between firms and customers.

The article titled “State of the Information Systems Literature on Information Privacy: Where Are We Now and Where Should We Go” has been accepted for publication in Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ).

Professor Pavlou questions the role of trust and risk in online marketplaces

Paul PavlouProfessor Paul Pavlou in a forthcoming study challenges the prevalent assumption that trust and risk are always influential on transaction decisions, and that there is always a need to build trust and reduce risk irrespective of context. The study specifies the boundaries of trust and risk on transaction activity in the context of the two largest online marketplaces, Amazon and eBay.

The study shows that the effects of trust and risk are actually only important in a rather narrow window where the institutional structures are moderately effective, while the effects of trust and risk are insignificant for both very effective or very ineffective institutional structures. This quadratic (“Inverted-U”) pattern suggests that the literature may have over-emphasized the role of trust and risk and ignored the role of the marketplace’s institutional context.

From a practical sense, by ignoring the trade-off in the design of institutional structures to optimize the effects of trust and risk, the results suggest that online marketplaces may have over-invested in institutional structures to build trust and reduce risk.

By specifying the boundaries of trust and risk, this study aims at sensitizing managers about the trade-offs in the design of institutional structures in online marketplaces.

The article (co-authored with David Gefen) titled “The Boundaries of Trust and Risk: The Quadratic Moderating Role of Institutional Structures” has been accepted for publication in Information Systems Research (ISR).

Get jobs and internships by managing your digital identity and the new portfolio concept

FoxMIS e-portfolioA quick Google and Facebook search is all it takes to learn a lot about a person or a firm. Branding was always important for large firms but now each individual and every firm is a ‘brand’ – and that brand or digital identity will directly impact your career and job search. Students are particularly vulnerable to ‘branding’ (both positive and negative) because you come to college with at least a ‘Facebook’ brand. The MIS Community site offers a number of new tools that you can use to take charge of your brand and participate in the overall community.

E-portfolios

An e-portfolio, also known as an electronic resume, is a collection of documents about your individual skill sets and body of work. You can use an e-portfolio to actively control and manage your digital identity and reputation so that you can get the best job and internship. The e-portfolio is intended to be more formal than a Facebook page but more creative and open than a LinkedIn page. E-portfolios are a required assignment in MIS 2101 starting in fall 2011 and as part of that we are now ready to roll out version 2 of the e-portfolio concept:

  • New custom design student e-portfolio themes with detailed instructions and templates and a list of common mistakes. Are you still using the old student theme from last year?
  • New workshops and tutorials (stay tuned for announcements)
  • A redesigned e-portfolio site through which students can easily submit e-portfolios’ for listing (for prospective employers)
  • A new search engine for employers to locate students. The search engine uses profile fields to show status, interest, type of job, skills and other relevant criteria. To show up in this search engine, you must submit your e-portfolio for listing per the above. If you have already listed your e-portfolio see below on how you can update your status and profile.Fox MIS eportfolio simple

Profile fields

Fox MIS Community Site Profile FieldsProfile fields are a key element of social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn – this is how people find you, learn your status, and how the software automatically suggests new contacts. Profile fields can serve a career placement function when they are used with e-portfolios to quickly find people based on employment status, looking for a job or not, looking for full-time or part-time jobs, experience, type of job interest (e.g., developer vs. analyst), and skills and interests (e.g., auditing, cyber-security, social media, etc.). Profiles about each person are also relevant to us as members of the extended MIS community – the above information is what binds us together professionally and is different from what we would normally use to identify people at the Facebook (if we limit it to friends and family) and LinkedIn (if we limit it to established career networking) levels.

The FoxMIS community site profile fields are now fully enabled and set up. You can set your profile by logging in to the site, clicking on ‘My Account’ at the top of the screen and then selecting ‘Profile’ and ‘Edit Profile.’ On the resulting screen, click on ‘Professional Details’ to set your profile. There you will see two parts that you need to update—base and professional details. You can ignore all the fields that are not relevant to you. What is exciting is that once you have for example, selected a particular skill or interest, you can later click on that item and see all the people who are interested in that area. That moves us closer to being a real community!

Analytics

Analytics provides the tools to evaluate the results of designing digital identities and a feedback loop back into search engine optimization (SEO) and reputation management. The MIS Community site is setup to use Google Analytics which will allow you to see the ‘hits’ you are generating on your e-portfolio and the demographics of where those hits are coming from. You will learn how to use Google Analytics in MIS 2101. If you have already taken MIS 2101, please contact one of your professors who can provide you with the information on how to setup Google Analytics.

Coming soon – Portfolio requirement and an achievement and point system

In a completely flat world, how do you gain recognition? What can we do to further support the best students? We are working on implementing a portfolio requirement (initially only for the MIS major) that is based on a point system modeled on the ‘achievement and status’ metaphor used by gaming sites and like everything else we do – it will be on the MIS community site, completely open, and flat.

A portfolio requirement means that the student completes a series of tasks and activities outside of regular class work as part of their graduation requirement. Potential portfolio requirements include both micro and macro level tasks such as:

  • An internship, project-based internship, or service learning
  • An e-portfolio including online resume and online projects
  • Updated profile fields on the MIS community site
  • Completing workshops offered by the Center for Student Professional Development (CSPD)
  • Posting comments across class sites
  • Participation in activities of the Association for Information Systems (AIS)
  • A final project that is eligible for awards and seed money funding

Students will be required to achieve point levels through online, off-line, departmental, AIS, and school wide activities before they can progress through the curriculum and the points will be maintained and highlighted online. We will be soliciting input from students (through AIS) to finalize the list above.

Professor Youngjin Yoo receives major grant to establish Urban Apps Studio

Youngjin YooCenter for Design + InnovationThe Center for Design + Innovation, led by Professor Youngjin Yoo, and the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreunership has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)  to establish the Urban Apps & Maps Studio. In collaboration with Temple University’s Computer & Information Sciences, Electrical Engineering, Geography and Urban Studies, and Tyler School of Arts, Urban Apps & Maps will become a platform for urban digital entrepreneurship.

Over the next five years, the Interdisciplinary team of faculty members of the Urban Apps & Maps will work with graduate student fellows, undergraduate student fellows and high school fellows to teach how to build apps to address urgent human needs in urban environments and launch new businesses based on those apps. Urban Apps & Maps studio will work closely with Code for America. The ultimate goal is establish a vibrant urban ecosystem for digital entrepreneurship in North Philadelphia.

Read the full story here.

e-portfolio confirmation

Thank you for completing the FoxMIS community profile and submitting your e-portfolio! We will review the submission and if it is approved, it will be automatically listed on the FoxMIS e-portfolio site search engine. This will allow prospective employers to find your e-portfolio. The FoxMIS community profile selections are public and can be viewed by all users of the FoxMIS community.

If you would like to make changes to your profile fields, you can do so at any time by clicking on ‘My Account” and then ‘Profile’ in the menu bar above. You can also click on the Skills and Interests or Job Interests selections to find other students with similar interests.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at misdept@temple.edu.

MS in IT Auditing and Cyber-Security

Now accepting applications for spring and fall 2012! Click here to apply.

Get on the fast track for a career in protecting and evaluating organizational information systems!

Organizations rely on information systems to automate their processes, store their trade secrets and accumulate a large amount of private data about their customers.  Along with substantial benefits, these systems bring risks. Has your data been compromised?  Is someone stealing your secrets?  Are you in compliance with government regulations? Can your organization continue to operate after a natural disaster? 

MS - IT Auditing Online FraudThe role of an IT auditor is to assess, manage, and control the above risks.  IT auditors are responsible for analyzing organizational risks, communicating these risks, and applying solutions that reduce organizational threats, promote transparency and comply with regulations. IT auditors typically work on many different kinds of projects and enjoy a reasonable work-life balance.

MS - IT AuditingThe Fox School’s new Master of Science (MS) in Information Technology Auditing and Cyber-Security (MS ITACS) program prepares students as entry-level IT auditors who have the skills and knowledge needed to pass the Information Systems Audit and Control Association’s (ISACA) Certified Information System Auditor exam. 

The MS ITACAS program is based on ISACA‘s model curriculum and students are expected to complete the certification exam at the end of their study.  The MSITACS can also be substituted for one year of experience on the CISA application in most situations.

The marketplace for IT auditors, especially those holding the CISA credential, is rapidly expanding at accounting firms, multinational corporations, consultancies and government organizations:

CISA was named in the top five of Foote Partners’ 2011 semiannual “HOT LIST Forecast” of IT skills and certifications…

SC Magazine selected CISA again as a finalist of the 2011 “Best Professional Certification Program…

CISA has been recognized as the highest paying IT security certification by the 2010 IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index (ITSCPI)…

Curriculum

The curriculum is carefully designed to prepare you for the CISA exam.  The full-time program consists of 10 courses delivered in both compressed and traditional semester format in 12 months culminating in a capstone course in which you prepare for the CISA exam. See below for sample schedule and completion time. The courses include:

  1. MIS 5001 – Management Information Systems
    Surveys the effective uses of information systems and the issues they raise.
    or
    ACCT 5001 – Financial and Managerial Accounting
    Presents the concepts of financial and managerial accounting with a “user” (investor or manager) orientation.
  2. ACCT 5125 – Accounting Information Systems
    Learn how information systems impact how accounting data is captured, processed, and communicated.
  3. MIS 5201 – IT Audit Process
    Introduces the essential concepts of IT auditing and internal controls.
  4. MIS 5202 – IT Governance
    Examines how IT is managed in a controlled environment covering IT strategic planning, project management, COBIT, etc.
  5. MIS 5203 – Systems & Infrastructure r Management 1
    Introduces how IT systems are acquired, developed and implemented. Systems covered include network, infrastructure, databases, and applications. Topics covered include the basic system life-cycle, development methods, sourcing strategies, and integrated controls.
  6. MIS 5204 – Systems & Infrastructure Lifecycle Management 2
    The continuation of MIS 5203
  7. MIS 5205 – IT Service Delivery and Support
    Examines how an IT organization delivers services to the organization. Learn about the technical infrastructure, reliability, security, and service center management.
  8. MIS 5206 – Protection of Information Assets and Business Continuity-Disaster Recovery
    Explains the importance of managing information assets including logical, physical, and environmental security along with disaster recovery and business continuity.
  9. MIS 5207 – Business Skills for the IT Auditor
    Surveys professional skills including managerial communications, public speaking, interviewing, negotiation, personal selling skills, business writing, project management and team building.
  10. MIS 5210 – IT Auditing Capstone
    The capabilities developed throughout the program are used in case studies analyses and practice examinations.

Sample Schedule

MS - IT Auditing Students

The MS ITACS is a full-time program offered in compressed and traditional formats. The 10 course program is designed to be completed in 12 months. You can start the program in January and be ready to take the CISA exam in December:

  • January 2011: Two courses (compressed format)
  • End of January to end of May: Three courses (traditional once a week format)
  • End of May to end of July: Three courses (traditional once a week format)
  • September – December: Two courses (traditional once a week format)

Admissions and Pre-requisites

  • Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test scores.
  • Two letters of recommendation.
  • A required essay on how you became interested in this field, what your professional goals are, and how you see this program helping you achieve your goals.
  • Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores for non-native English speakers (unless degree from English language university located in native English language country).
  • A personal interview may be requested to make a decision on your application.
  • Depending on your specific background, you may be asked to take pre-requisite courses.

If you enjoy analysis and investigation, can think through complex problems, and want to join a lucrative fast growing field, you should consider becoming an IT auditor. 

Tuition and Fees

Total tuition for students starting in January 2012 is $30,000 at the rate of $1,000 per credit hour. Temple University also assesses additional service fees.

More information

Classes start in January 2012!

Fox MIS alumnus Niraj Patel donates $50K for scholarship fund

Niraj PatelFox School of Business alumnus Niraj Patel recently donated $50,000 to create a scholarship fund for outstanding students in Management Information Systems (MIS). Two $5,000 scholarships will be awarded annually.

Patel has been an avid supporter of the MIS Department since its founding and sits on the department’s Advisory Board. “The Fox MIS program is one of the most innovative and exciting in the nation, especially with the new BBA in MIS,” Patel said. “I am very pleased to support the entrepreneurial and hardworking students at Temple Fox MIS.”

Since graduating from Fox in 1990 with a degree in MIS and finance, Patel has built a distinguished career. He serves as president of ISGN, a partner of Witmer LLC and managing director of the Musser Group. As a multi-national border expert, he has a strong client base in India and has completed large-scale projects bridging nations.

Previously, Patel served as a founding member and executive vice president/chief information officer for GMAC Commercial Mortgage. There, he increased loan originations from $2 billion to $29.9 billion.

Patel, an award-winning innovator, is viewed as one of the leading technologists of his generation. He serves on numerous boards and panels, speaks at industry conferences and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and numerous commercial real estate, finance and technology publications

Fox IT awards 2011

 Fox IT Awards 2011 Joe Spagnoletti Kurt Holstein John H. Shain

The Fox School of Business at Temple University is honoring three top technology leaders at its Eleventh annual Fox Information Technology Awards on Tuesday, April 12.

Awardees include Joseph C. Spagnoletti, senior vice president and chief information officer, Campbell Soup Co.; Kurt Holstein, vice chairman and co-founder, Rosetta; and John H. Shain, president and chief operating officer, Automated Financial Systems. The awards will be presented on Temple’s Main Campus in Philadelphia.

“These awards recognize outstanding role models in industry for our students,” said Munir Mandviwalla, chair of the Fox School’s Management Information Systems (MIS) Department.

Spagnoletti will receive the Fox Information Technology Leader Award for leadership in the use and development of IT in business, and Holstein will receive the Fox Information Technology Innovator Award for applying IT to create business opportunity. Shain will receive the Fox Information Technology Award for Distinguished Alumni, given in recognition of his distinguished IT career and his contribution to the community, industry and Temple. The event will also recognize excellence in leadership among the school’s MIS faculty, administration and student body.

Spagnoletti leads Campbell’s global information technology function, providing IT strategy to help the company meet its business goals. Spagnoletti created a new IT competency model focused on business unit achievement and is in the process of redefining the relationship of IT with the company at all levels of organization.

Holstein helped build Rosetta from a four-person consulting firm in 1998 to the fifth largest digital agency in the country with more than 1,200 employees and nine offices in the U.S. and Canada. He has led the organization that developed many industry firsts in digital and data-driven personalized marketing, including the first iPad-based physician-detailing tool for the pharmaceutical industry. He holds five patents on the use of advanced segmentation to enhance personalization of marketing and the application of segmentation to digital personalization. Holstein also developed integrated mobile/web/social/CRM-based programs that leverage customer databases to provide unified digital experiences.

Shain is president and chief operating officer for Automated Financial Systems (AFS), the market leader in the provision of commercial lending solutions and industry benchmarking in risk, operational performance and pricing to more than 60 percent of the top 25 banks. In the 1990s, with Shain as president, AFS became the first major supplier to announce a Y2K solution. More recently, he started a new distribution strategy that ultimately evolved to cloud computing, which now accounts for 50 percent of AFS’ revenue.

Click here to register for the Eleventh Annual IT awards (registration required, no walk-ins permitted)

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